Geographical Indications Act 2014

• Record Number: Act 19 of 2014
• copyrightNote: © Singapore legislation sourced from Singapore Statutes Online. It is subject to copyright of the Singapore Government and is reproduced with the permission of the Attorney-General’s Chambers of Singapore.

REPUBLIC OF SINGAPORE

GOVERNMENT GAZETTE

ACTS SUPPLEMENT

Published by Authority

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NO. 17] Friday, May 23 [2014

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The following Act was passed by Parliament on 14th April 2014 and assented to by the President on 19th May 2014:—

Geographical Indications Act 2014

(No. 19 of 2014)

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I assent.

TONY TAN KENG YAM, President. 19th May 2014.

Date of Commencement: 1st April 2019 Part I, sections 4(1), (2), (3), (4) and (5), 5 to 10, Division 1 of Part III, Parts IV, V, sections 77 to 90 and the Schedule

Date of Commencement: 21st November 2019 Sections 4(6), (7), (8) and (9), 15, 16, 75 and 76

An Act to repeal and re-enact with amendments the Geographical Indications Act (Chapter 117B of the 1999 Revised Edition) to provide for the protection of geographical indications in relation to goods, and for matters connected therewith, and to make related amendments to certain other written laws.

Be it enacted by the President with the advice and consent of the Parliament of Singapore, as follows:

PART I PRELIMINARY Short title and commencement 1. This Act may be cited as the Geographical Indications Act 2014 and shall come into operation on such date as the Minister may, by notification in the Gazette, appoint. Interpretation 2.—(1) In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires — “Court” means the High Court; “earlier geographical indication”, in relation to an application for registration of a geographical indication made under section 39 (referred to in this definition as the application in question), means a geographical indication — (a) which has been registered under section 48; or (b) an application for registration of which has been made under section 39, before the date of the application in question; “geographical indication” means any indication used in trade to identify goods as originating from a place, provided that — (a) the place is a qualifying country or a region or locality in a qualifying country; and (b) a given quality, reputation or other characteristic of the goods is essentially attributable to that place; “goods” means any natural or agricultural product or any product of handicraft or industry; “homonymous geographical indication” means a geographical indication that, in part or in whole, has the same spelling as, or sounds the same as, a geographical indication for any goods having a different geographical origin; “interested party”, in relation to goods identified by a geographical indication, means a producer of the goods, a trader of the goods, or an association of such producers or traders or of such producers and traders; “international trade mark (Singapore)” has the same meaning as in the Trade Marks Act (Cap. 332); “Office” means the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore established under the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore Act (Cap. 140); “Paris Convention” means the Convention for the Protection of Industrial Property signed at Paris on 20th March 1883, and any revision or amendment thereto which has come into force and has been accepted by the Government; “place”, in relation to a geographical indication, means a country or territory and includes a region or locality in a country or territory; “producer” means — (a) in relation to agricultural products, a person who produces those products for sale or other commercial purposes; (b) in relation to natural products, a person who exploits those products for sale or other commercial purposes; or (c) in relation to products of handicraft or industry, a person who manufactures those products for sale or other commercial purposes; “proprietor” means — (a) in relation to a registered trade mark, the person in whose name the trade mark is registered; (b) in relation to an unregistered trade mark that is a well known trade mark, the person to whom the trade mark belongs; or (c) in relation to a trade mark referred to in section 41(5)(b), the person who used the trade mark in accordance with that provision; “qualifying country” means any country or territory which is — (a) a member of the World Trade Organization; (b) a party to the Paris Convention; or (c) designated by the Minister as a qualifying country under section 83; “register” means — (a) when used as a noun, the register of geographical indications maintained by the Registrar under section 21; and (b) when used as a verb, to enter in the register; “registered geographical indication” means a geographical indication that is registered under section 48; “registered trade mark” means a trade mark registered under the Trade Marks Act; “registrant”, in relation to a registered geographical indication, means the person in whose name the geographical indication is registered; “Registrar” means the Registrar of Geographical Indications appointed under section 17 and includes any Deputy Registrar or Assistant Registrar of Geographical Indications appointed under that section; “Registry” means the Registry of Geographical Indications established under section 19; “repealed Act” means the Geographical Indications Act (Cap. 117B) repealed by this Act; “trade mark” has the same meaning as in the Trade Marks Act; “trader”, in relation to goods, means any person — (a) who sells the goods in Singapore; or (b) who supplies the goods in Singapore for the purpose of their being sold by another person in Singapore; “use” means use as part of, or in connection with — (a) any transaction, including a purchase, a sale or an exchange; (b) any importing or exporting; (c) any advertisement; or (d) any invoice, wine list, catalogue, business letter, business paper, price list or other commercial document; “variant”, in relation to a geographical indication, means a variant of the indication constituting the geographical indication, and includes any translation, transliteration or other variation of the indication; [Act 5 of 2020 wef 15/08/2020] “well known trade mark” has the same meaning as in the Trade Marks Act. [Act 5 of 2020 wef 15/08/2020] (2) There may be 2 or more variants constituting the same geographical indication. [Act 5 of 2020 wef 15/08/2020] (3) A geographical indication, and each variant constituting the geographical indication (if any), may contain 2 or more words. [Act 5 of 2020 wef 15/08/2020] Application of Act 3.—(1) Unless expressly provided otherwise in subsection (2) or elsewhere in this Act, this Act shall apply to all geographical indications, whether or not registered under section 48. (2) Sections 4(6) to (9), 75, 76 and 79, Division 2 of Part III, Division 2 of Part V, and Part VI shall only apply to registered geographical indications.

PART II PROTECTION FOR GEOGRAPHICAL INDICATIONS Interested party may bring action for certain uses of geographical indication 4.—(1) Subject to the provisions of this Act, an interested party of goods identified by a geographical indication may bring an action against a person for carrying out an act to which this section applies in relation to the geographical indication. (2) This section shall apply to the following acts: (a) the use of a geographical indication in relation to any goods which did not originate in the place indicated by the geographical indication, in a manner which misleads the public as to the geographical origin of the goods; (b) any use of a geographical indication which constitutes an act of unfair competition within the meaning of Article 10 bis of the Paris Convention; (c) any use of a geographical indication, being a geographical indication which identifies a wine, in relation to a wine which did not originate from the place indicated by the geographical indication, whether or not — (i) the true geographical origin of the second‑mentioned wine is used together with the geographical indication; (ii) the geographical indication is used in translation; or (iii) the geographical indication is accompanied by any of the words “kind”, “type”, “style” or “imitation” or any similar word or expression; and (d) any use of a geographical indication, being a geographical indication which identifies a spirit, in relation to a spirit which did not originate from the place indicated by the geographical indication, whether or not — (i) the true geographical origin of the second‑mentioned spirit is used together with the geographical indication; (ii) the geographical indication is used in translation; or (iii) the geographical indication is accompanied by any of the words “kind”, “type”, “style” or “imitation” or any similar word or expression. (3) Any use of a geographical indication within the meaning of subsection (2) shall be deemed to be an act to which this section applies, even if the geographical indication is literally true as to the geographical origin of the goods in question, provided that such use falsely represents to the public that the goods originate in another place. (4) For the purposes of subsection (2), “use of a geographical indication” includes the use of a trade mark which contains or consists of the geographical indication in question. (5) Subsection (2)(c) and (d) shall not apply to the use of a geographical indication to identify an ingredient of a wine and an ingredient of a spirit, respectively, if the geographical indication is literally true as to the geographical origin of the ingredient in question, provided that such use does not falsely represent to the public that the wine or spirit (as the case may be) originates in the place indicated by the geographical indication. (6) This section shall apply to any use of a registered geographical indication which identifies any agricultural product or foodstuff (other than a wine or a spirit) belonging to a category of goods listed in the Schedule, in relation to any goods which are of the same category as that agricultural product or foodstuff, but which did not originate in the place indicated by the registered geographical indication, whether or not — (a) the true geographical origin of those goods is used together with the registered geographical indication; (b) the registered geographical indication is used in translation; or (c) the registered geographical indication is ...